Worried About Teens Today? So Were Adults in the 1920s. “A century ago, new technology and mobility reshaped what it meant to be young, linking rural life more closely to the city.”

I want to discuss accessibility because it is the most important thing for making websites. Other A List Apart articles give you innovation and insight. This article will give you homework. These are just my personal views, but they’re pretty good.

I want to start off with a couple of statements, and you will agree:

1. Designers are good people. I have never heard a designer say, “I don’t care if somebody can’t read this text”, “Not my fault if somebody can’t use this device”, or “Who cares if this is confusing?”
2. Some designs exclude people. You have seen people unable to read the text on a website or app that somebody designed. You’ve seen people unable to use a physical device that somebody has designed. You’ve seen people utterly bamboozled while trying to use a service that somebody designed.

So what?

The first question is, “Is this life-or-death stuff?” The answer is, “Yes.” In my favorite essay, This Is All There Is, Aral Balkan makes the point that pretty much everything that we design can affect life events and death events. Aral gives the example of how even a straightforward bus timetable app can affect life and death events, if we design it badly:

• somebody might miss a life event, such as their daughter’s fifth birthday party; or
• somebody might miss a death event, such as the chance to say goodbye to a dying grandmother.

The next—and frustrating—question is, “Why do some designs still exclude people?” After all, we know that:

• not everybody can see perfectly;
• not everybody can hear perfectly;
• not everybody thinks the same way; and
• not everybody moves the same way.

I think the answer is that there’s too much to recall. Consider, if you will, the wide variety of topics that A List Apart articles cover. Designers are expected to remember all of that guidance, plus all of the accessibility guidance, plus so much more. It is too much.

Recognizing accessibility issues while designing

I’d like to point toward one possible solution, starting from Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design. These are from the mid-1990s, and—although there’s a good chance that you, gentle reader, are a lot younger than that—please bear with me. 

Seeing as the problem is that there’s too much to recall, I want to look at heuristic № 6, “Recognition rather than Recall.” Jakob Nielsen said that for users, information required to use the design should be visible or easily retrievable when needed. I suggest we tweak that to make life easier for designers. Let’s say that the information required to produce the design should be visible or easily retrievable when needed. In other words, let’s make it easier to recognise accessibility issues while we’re designing.

How are we going to do that? I really like the book A Web for Everyone—Designing Accessible User Experiences by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery. I really like this book not only because it includes a quote from me—actually two quotes, but I don’t like to boast—but because it includes personas that are perfect for helping us to recognise accessibility issues. That’s the good news. The even better news is that these personas are available now for free on the companion website to the book What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility, again by Sarah Horton, with David Sloan this time.

Meet your users

I’m going to introduce you to these personas now:

• Vishnu, an engineer and global citizen with low vision says, “I want to be on the same level as everyone else”, “If I can adjust my screen, I can read comfortably”, and, “Translating in my head is easier with simpler sentences.”
• Trevor, a high school student with autism, says, “I like consistent, familiar places on the web”, “When I can learn the pattern, I can find my way”, and, “Reading is hard for me”.
• Steven, a deaf graphic artist and American Sign Language speaker, says, “My only disability is that everyone doesn’t sign”, and, “Without captions, it’s meaningless to me”.
• Maria, a bilingual community health worker, says, “I love this. It’s all here … when I can find it”, “When a site is confusing, I just leave”—fair enough, Maria!—and, “When I hear and see it, health information makes more sense”.
• Lea, an editor living with fatigue and pain, says, “No one gets that this really is a disability”, “Don’t make me work so hard”—please do not bombard this lady with drop-down lists—and, “Links at the top of the page make navigation easier for me”.
• Jacob, a blind paralegal and a bit of a geek, says, “The right technology lets me do anything”, and “This makes it possible to do my job”.
• Emily, who has cerebral palsy and is living independently, says, “I want to do everything for myself”, “Simpler screens are easier screens”—hell yeah, Emily!—and, “Tell me what I need in advance”.
• Carol, a grandmother with macular degeneration which affects her sight, says, “My grandkids are dragging me into the world of technology”, “I don’t understand what the screen is saying”, and, “Why can’t the text be just a little bit larger?”

I want to throw one more persona at you now, because, well, A List Apart readers are overachievers. One of my favorite authors, Cennydd Bowles—who literally wrote the book on Future Ethics—says to create Personas Non Grata. In other words, every time we design something, we have to think about what a bad guy could do with that thing, and whom that might affect.

To actually use these personas while designing, I like what Eric Meyer and Sara Wachter-Boettcher in Design for Real Life call the Designated Dissenter: for each project that you work on, one of your teams should be responsible for asking, “Will this work for Vishnu?”, “How’s Trevor going to get on with this?”, and so on. 

Then, once you’ve used the personas to recognise the accessibility issues, you can look up the guidelines for whichever platforms you’re designing for: 

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2
• Accessibility designing — Material Design 3
• Accessibility — Windows apps
• Accessibility | Apple Developer Documentation
• Check your interface for accessibility (Ubuntu)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

I told you in the introduction of this article that I would give you homework. You thought I was joking. So, here’s your homework: I want you to grab the personas from the Know About Accessibility website, and use them throughout every design project to help you recognise accessibility issues while you work—and reclaim design for everyone.

NOTE: This article is based on “Recognise,” my five-minute presentation from Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Dublin’s Defuse (Design for Use) event in 2025.

Exclusive: Officials warn department will also lose access to database of 26,000 verified incidents due to cuts

The Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel in Gaza and more recently Lebanon has been closed because of cuts within the department, the Guardian can reveal.

The decision to shut the international humanitarian law cell follows a review by Olly Robbins, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office dismissed last week by the prime minister over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Inquiry began in March after report on security arrangements involving FBI director’s girlfriend, NYT says

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The FBI began investigating a New York Times reporter after the newspaper published a story raising concerns about the security arrangements surrounding the girlfriend of Kash Patel, the FBI director, the Times has reported.

According to reporting from the Times on Wednesday, the inquiry into Elizabeth Williamson, the reporter, began in March following an article she reported alleging that Patel used FBI resources to provide protection and transportation for his girlfriend, country singer, Alexis Wilkins.

HMRC owed more than £640,00 by company that advised clients such as TikTok, GSK and Palantir

Peter Mandelson’s former consultancy business, Global Counsel, went bust owing £4.6m – including more than £600,000 to the taxman – a report by the group’s administrators reveals.

The company, which provided advice to high-profile clients including Chinese-owned TikTok, US tech business Palantir and UK pharmaceutical firm GSK, collapsed into administration in February, after it lost a series of accounts over the peer’s relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Renowned artist, who won 12 Grammys, died at home after being diagnosed with an aggressive type of brain cancer

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Michael Tilson Thomas, a leading American conductor for a half-century who headed orchestras in Buffalo, Miami, London and San Francisco while also composing, died on Wednesday. He was 81.

Tilson Thomas had surgery for a brain tumor in 2021 and resumed his career, then said in February 2025 that the tumor had returned. He conducted his final concert with the San Francisco Symphony in April 2025 and died at his home in San Francisco, spokesperson Connie Shuman said.

Fires that spread during drought in Georgia and Florida have blanketed cities hundreds of miles away in smoke

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Wildfires tearing through the south have forced hundreds of Georgia residents to flee in minutes, leaving them distraught about the homes and animals they left behind.

The fires that spread this week during an extreme drought in Georgia and Florida have blanketed cities hundreds of miles away in smoke, leading to more air quality warnings Thursday across the southeast.

PSG’s win against Nantes gives them a four-point lead on Lens, but now have a gruelling schedule to play through

By Get French Football News

“The title is still in play. Lens aren’t giving up,” warned Paris Saint-Germain captain Marquinhos after his team’s comfortable 3-0 win over Nantes on Wednesday night. Nantes put up a fight early in the match, and even had what would have been an equalising goal ruled out for offside, but they eventually caved to defeat at the Parc des Princes.

With five rounds of games to play, PSG have a four-point lead over Lens, who they meet in the penultimate fixture of the campaign. “This is a tough league but we haven’t had a challenger like this in other years,” added the Brazilian defender. “Lens are really having a great season. It’s good for us. It keeps us working hard and focused until the end of the season. We don’t have time to dwell. We’ll be playing every three days.”

​Het is voor Els uit Epe geen verrassing meer, haar persoonlijke gegevens liggen weer op straat. Als Rituals en Odido-klant met een BasicFit-abonnement ging het de afgelopen weken keer op keer mis. Dat zelfs haar gemeente Epe is gehackt, wekt nog wel enige verbazing op. “Waarom Epe nou weer?” zegt Els.

Els zegt dat ze inmiddels niks meer te verbergen heeft. “Laat het voor iedereen duidelijk zijn: Mijn bsn is 248870821, ik woon in Epe op Meidoornstraat 14 (de sleutel ligt onder de linker bloembak), ik heb een studieschuld van 35.000 euro, ik ben al vijftien jaar getrouwd, het is niet een heel gelukkig huwelijk maar we zijn nog bij elkaar, mijn kinderen heten Doris en Jaap en zitten beide op Basisschool de Blauwe Regen, mijn pincode is 6692 en ik heb genitale herpes, nou goed?”

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Weet u wat heel sneu is? Zo ontiegelijk sneu zijn dat je een oud vrouwtje van 74 jaar oplicht door haar via pinpasfraude duizenden euro's afhandig te maken. Zoals dat altijd gaat werd het slachtoffer gebeld door een sneue handlanger van de sneue pinpaspipo's die zich uitgaf als bankmedewerker en haar vroeg de pas 's avonds aan een sneue oplichter (mogelijk weer een ander dan bovenstaande pipo's) mee te geven. Het werd nog een stuk sneuer toen die de vrouw aan de deur ook nog vroeg om sieraden en geld en sieraden en een telefoon + ID-kaart meekreeg. Later gingen de pinpaspipo's aan de slag en pinden de arme vrouw duizenden euro's armer. Gelukkig staan die twee wel mooi op beeld met hun sneue harses dus ZoekZoek en meld indien u vindt.

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - Heineken is in de Verenigde Staten een rechtszaak begonnen tegen de regering-Trump vanwege te veel betaalde importheffingen. Dat bevestigt een woordvoerder van de bierbrouwer na eerdere berichtgeving in het NRC.

Het Amerikaanse Hooggerechtshof heeft een groot deel van de importheffingen die president Donald Trump heeft opgelegd onwettig verklaard. Volgens de rechters heeft Trump zijn bevoegdheden overschreden door een noodwet uit 1977 toe te passen. Door deze uitspraak kunnen veel bedrijven nu rechtszaken starten om zo geld terug te eisen dat ze onterecht hebben betaald.

De regering-Trump heeft 166 miljard dollar gereserveerd voor het terugbetalen van te veel gevraagde heffingen. Heineken gaat dus gebruikmaken van die mogelijkheid.

De details van de rechtszaak, waaronder hoeveel geld de bierbrouwer wil terugvorderen, kon de woordvoerder nog niet geven.

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De aandelenbeurs in Amsterdam is donderdag met verlies gesloten. Zorgen over een lange patstelling in de oorlog tussen de Verenigde Staten en Iran kregen de overhand. Beleggers verwerkten ook kwartaalberichten van onder andere Besi en Heineken.

De AEX-index zakte 0,7 procent tot 1014,08 punten. De MidKap verloor 0,3 procent tot 1019,17 punten. De beurzen in Frankfurt en Londen verloren licht, terwijl de hoofdindex in Parijs 0,9 procent won.

Een dag eerder reageerden beleggers wereldwijd overwegend met opluchting op de eenzijdige verlenging van het bestand met Iran door de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump. Vooralsnog lijkt Iran niet bereid om aan de onderhandelingstafel te komen.

De olieprijzen stegen. Een vat Brentolie werd 1,6 procent meer waard op 103,58 dollar per vat. Amerikaanse olie steeg 1,6 procent in prijs tot 94,47 dollar per vat.

Besi was de sterkste stijger in de AEX. De toeleverancier voor chipfabrikanten, gespecialiseerd in geavanceerde verpakkingen van halfgeleiders, profiteerde afgelopen kwartaal van de sterke vraag naar toepassingen die AI-chips goed laten functioneren. Het aandeel eindigde ruim 4 procent hoger.

Het kwartaalbericht van Heineken ontlokte geen heftige koersreactie. De bierbrouwer meldde in de eerste drie maanden van het jaar een hogere omzet te hebben geboekt dan een jaar eerder, in lijn met de verwachtingen. Tegelijkertijd is het concern bezorgd over de mogelijke negatieve gevolgen van de Iranoorlog voor de bierverkoop. Het aandeel zakte 0,4 procent.

In de MidKap won Fugro 1,4 procent. De bodemonderzoeker meldde bij zijn kwartaalcijfers dat de impact van het conflict in het Midden-Oosten vooralsnog beperkt is gebleven tot de activiteiten in de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten en Qatar. Het bedrijf zag de omzet dalen en boekte een operationeel verlies van 1,9 miljoen euro.

Enkele grote beursfondsen in Parijs wonnen fors. Cosmeticaconcern L'Oréal presteerde beter dan verwacht en eindigde 9 procent hoger. Chipbedrijf STMicroelectronics kwam met een verrassend optimistische prognose over de verkopen in het lopende kwartaal. De leverancier van halfgeleiders aan bedrijven als Tesla en Apple verwachtte ook te profiteren van investeringen in satellieten en datacenters. Het aandeel steeg ruim 14 procent.

Push to protect minors risks hitting everyone online

Proton's boss has waded into the age verification fight with a warning that sounds less like child safety and more like an identity checkpoint for the entire internet.…